Weddingbee boards

Hi everyone!

So I am having candle lantern centerpieces to help cut down on flower costs a bit. What I plan to do is something like this:

I want to have a nice lantern like that in the center, and I am going to do two small vases with a few flower buds as well. My colors are navy/green/whites, and I am doing a slight nautical type theme as I am having a beach wedding. I will need to get a few other things to complete the centerpiece, but I need to start here! Now I want it to look similar to this photo... but I just don't know how tall the lantern should be! I have been looking at lanterns of all sizes. I picked one out, then I thought it wouldn't be tall enough to have some height over the flowers in the small vases... and then I picked a bigger one, but now I'm afraid it's going to be enormous! 

Basically, I am pretty stuck... and don't know how to proceed. Have any of you used lanterns or seen them used in the past? or hell, just have a better idea than I do of  what height would look nice? Thanks so much!

@Eireann: I'm using lanterns. Mine are Railroad lanterns, but similar in size. The one in your picture is from IKEA and it had two different sizes. In my opinion the larger one was WAY too big, but the smaller one (the one in the picture) is a good size and pretty affordable.

If you're looking at other lanterns I found 12" lanterns wre a pretty good size. I thought they seemed a bit small at first, but lanterns get taller, and not much wider (until they're huge). Also, once you add in your other items, and set the table it will look plenty big

I hope that helps!

@BluegrassBridetoBee: OMG thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of Ikea... I have been searching for this style of lantern everywhere! And I agree! I think 11" will probably be perfect! The other would just be too big!

@smyley: That's a great idea! I am definitely going to do that!! Thank you!

@julies1949: Right! That makes total sense. I think I will definitely be doing this, just to make sure :)

Again! Appreciate all of your help! I feel much better now :) 

I used the smaller lantern from Ikea for 1 of my 2 types of centerpieces. They were perfect. Really nice lanterns. Here is a pic to give you an idea of the height on the table. They were setting up the tables when this pic was taken. Mine were on top of wood slices. Hope it helps!

Also, just a thought. If you do an escort card table, the larger lantern is perfect for that. We bought 1 for that purpose. I liked that it flowed with the centerpieces. We put a nest filled with flowers in the large one, instead of a candle.

@bluebird615: Oh great!! Thank you so much. The photos really helped to give me an idea!! Definitely going to keep that in mind about the larger one! Great idea!!